How to gain speed in LR?

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• 10 Likes

  99thPercentileOrDieTryin Free Trial Member

  July 2020 652 karma

  My best improvements came from practicing translation drills over and over. Besides that, learning to tactically skip questions was massively beneficial. For example, when you come across a parallel reasoning question or find yourself having a hard time understanding a difficult stimulus -select a random answer choice, flag the question, and move on. When I started skipping like this, I found I would always get done with a section with 7 - 10 minutes to spare. This left me plenty of time to go back and answer all of my flagged questions. By doing this, you won't waste time on hard questions that you could have spent on easier ones. And, it gives you a better chance at getting the hard ones right too.
• 2 Likes

  sarahisk Member

  July 2020 272 karma

  @99thPercentileOrDieTryin said:
  My best improvements came from practicing translation drills over and over. Besides that, learning to tactically skip questions was massively beneficial. For example, when you come across a parallel reasoning question or find yourself having a hard time understanding a difficult stimulus -select a random answer choice, flag the question, and move on. When I started skipping like this, I found I would always get done with a section with 7 - 10 minutes to spare. This left me plenty of time to go back and answer all of my flagged questions. By doing this, you won't waste time on hard questions that you could have spent on easier ones. And, it gives you a better chance at getting the hard ones right too.

  This!! My tutor taught me that you don't want to struggle on your first pass through the questions. Even feeling like you spent too much time on one question can leave you flustered and stressed for the rest of the section, or worse, for the rest of your test.
  Especially when you're stuck on a question oscillating between two answer choices, you're wasting your time and making yourself less and less confident. If you find yourself in a situation like that it's better to pick one and move on. Lower hanging fruit likely awaits!
• 6 Likes

  Chris Nguyen Alum Member Administrator Sage ⭐ 7Sage Tutor

  July 2020 4598 karma

  Hey there!

  Here are some things in my strategy that I use to improve in LR.

  1) I am always on high active reading and engagement mode. I read slow and try my best to process everything to make sure I truly understand the stimulus AND the answer choice. (Sometimes people forget that answer choices are hard and take time to process, too!) You might think reading slow is a waste of time, but it's the exact opposite. You're more confident in what you're reading which lets you be more aggressive and fast, and you're less likely to make silly mistakes.

  2) Because I'm trying my absolute best to process everything, I only get to read the stimulus once. If I do not understand what I read, I immediately skip the question. (It's harder than you think to actually do! Your instinct is to reread, but it will be a waste of time. You already tried your hardest to engage with it. Skip and come back when you attempt everything else.)

  3) When attempting the answer choices, I almost never go back to read the stimulus, unless it is to clarify a detail that will only take no more than 5 seconds. Trying to go back to grasp a logical relationship or connect inferences is never worth your time.

  4) If I eliminated all of the answer choices, I skip the question. DO NOT go back and reread every answer choice again. Absolute waste of time, assuming you're following rule 1, which you should be!

  5) If I eliminated some answers but I'm down to two or three answer choices: Reassess each answer choice with an open mind (no biases is important! You can't be against or for any specific answer choice.) and choose which answer you think is best. If you still don't know, skip and immediately move on.

  Also, you sound very stressed out. Which is totally understandable. This test is hard and there can be a lot of emotions flowing through because of it. But remember to breathe and take a step back. Try your best to have a positive attitude so you're not burning out.

  I hope this helps you! Good luck studying! pm me if you have any questions I can answer.